CLEVELAND, Ohio – In a game that resembled the scoring of the NFL more than the usual flurry of points in Arena Football, the Cleveland Gladiators edged the Philadelphia Soul, 39-37, in the first round of the playoffs Saturday at the Q.

Aaron Pettrey kicked a 36-yard field goal with one second remaining.

"The line just gave me enough time," Pettrey said.

Philadelphia's Emery Sammons caught a 47-yard touchdown pass and two-point conversion from Dan Raudabaugh to give the Soul a 37-36 lead with 25 seconds remaining. But Cleveland quickly pushed the ball into field-goal range.

Cleveland had beaten Philadelphia twice this year by a total of three points, and capped the hat trick of victories with another close game.

It was a defensive battle from the outset, not one Gladiators Coach Steve Thonn expected.

"I thought that it would be more of an offensive game," Thonn said. "But in Arena Football, anything can happen. You just have to grind it out."

On the game's first play, Philadelphia's Rayshaun Kizer tipped, bobbled and finally hauled in Shane Austin's pass attempted for Collin Taylor. It was a harbinger for the game. Kizer, who went to Euclid High School and Walsh University, finished with four interceptions.

"Kizer played a great game," Thonn said. "You have to give him credit. When he's on, he's on."

Austin – who had thrown 99 touchdown passes compared to only 15 interceptions this year – tossed five interceptions and two touchdowns while throwing for 246 yards in the win.

Both teams' offenses sputtered early. Philadelphia did its best trying to contain Cleveland's receiving tandem of Dominick Goodman, the Gladiators' all-time leader in receptions and receiving yards, and Thyron Lewis. Lewis led all receivers with 109 yards.

For its part, Cleveland's defensive backs stuck close to Soul receivers and disrupted Raudabaugh, who played college ball at Miami of Ohio.

Raudabaugh, who also passed for 246 yards, threw five touchdowns in the loss. But defensive backs on both teams covered a lot of ground. Cleveland's Dominic Jones dove in front of receivers twice in the third quarter to bat down passes at the goal line. He finished with seven solo tackles and seven assists.

"You have to step up," Jones said. "They've got some capable players. I think in Arena Football the game is won and lost in the secondary."

The Gladiators entered the game with a league best record (17-1) and winning percentage (.944).

Cleveland faces the winner of Sunday's Pittsburgh-Orlando game. Pittsburgh, which is riding a 12-game winning streak, handed Cleveland its only loss of the season, 48-34, on May 31. It was the fewest points scored in any game this year by the Gladiators.

The teams resembled boxers slugging it out, especially in the fourth quarter.

With fewer than nine minutes remaining, Philadelphia tied the game at 22 when Jon Striefsky kicked a field goal on fourth down. Cleveland's defense repeatedly had stymied the Soul offense near the goal line.

After another interception from Kizer, the Soul took a 29-22 lead when 240-pound fullback Derrick Ross caught a pass over the middle and lumbered into the end zone. But Cleveland came back, when Austin – unable to find an open receiver from the Soul 16-yard-line – shimmied away and raced into the end zone to tie the game at 29 again.

Austin had plunged through from the one-yard line with 42 seconds remaining to give the Gladiators a go-ahead score until Raudabaugh hooked with Sammons on successive plays.

Key moments

• On a third down deep in Cleveland territory with 5:49 to go in the second quarter, Cleveland's Joe Phinisee and Philadelphia receiver V'Keon Lacey went up for a jump ball in the corner of the end zone; officials awarded Phinisee the interception.

• Cleveland took its first lead of the game with 1:05 in the first half, when Austin found Goodman in the corner of the end zone to make the score 14-12. A play earlier, he had overthrown Goodman in the same corner.

• Phinisee broke up a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter with a vicious – but legal – hit on receiver Markee White. Officials had thrown a flag, then huddled and reversed the call.

• The one person who remained nonchalant after the game was commissioner Jerry Kurz. "Arena Football is a game that more often than not comes down to the end," he said.

By the numbers

• Cleveland accounted for 10 of 13 penalties in the game.

• Halftime score? Cleveland, 15-12.

• There were no sacks and no fumbles.

This and that

• Saturday's game drew 12,684 fans, topping the team's average of 10,609, third best in the league.

• Ron Jaworski, part owner of the Soul, attended the game, sitting directly behind his team's bench. "Jaws," who spent 10 of his 15 years in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles, went to Youngstown State. "Good luck to Cleveland," he said. Previously, Jon Bon Jovi was an owner of the Soul.

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